Category: Church

Oil Painting with the Young Women

I have offered to teach the Young Women at our church for years. I have offered to teach them basically anything, but I have never been called. Finally in January when the sign-up sheet went around church, I listed every fantabulous thing that I can do and then added a few things I don’t do well. I gave each option a fancy name. I am that desperate to be with the youth.

They asked me to teach something I am not so good at. But it was still very fun.

Making it

This week we’re just making it.

We made pulled pork for a Cub Scout dinner for 80.

We made collages and 1 of us cried over it and 3 of us stormed off.

Paige made it to one day of seminary this week because she’s so very sick.

Timothy wrote an epic essay about Genghis Kahn. You never know what will inspire a kid to greatness.

Richard spoke in the Spanish branch on Sunday. He worked to get his talk translated into Spanish and then presented it with a slight Portuguese accent.

This weekend I’m looking forward to celebrating Richard’s birthday. Pretty soon I’ll be kissing a 40 year old.

Temple Trip

We drove up to the Mesa temple this weekend and Richard and I attended a temple session together. The kids came along and walked around the temple grounds for several hours during our session. They learned about citrus trees and played games in the shade. Mark composed this note while he waited for us. I reflected on the sacrifice that our children make when we go to the temple. They drive for 4 hours and wait for 2-4 hours once they get there. I never had to do that as a child. They are really good sports about it and I am proud of them.

Pinewood Derby 2011

Here’s the shiny Pinewood Derby track from last night. I filled in for our Cubmaster at this Pack Meeting. We did the cheese grater cheer, the race car cheer, the rocket cheer, and the big canary cheer. These photos were taken by Phillip Flores, one of our den leaders.

Here is Timothy with his awesome car. He has a Lego man inside.

Richard’s computer program kept track of race times and generated the order of races. We projected the race stats from the computer to a big screen. It was very cool.

Trying to contain his delight…

This boy won 4th place!

He earned his Bobcat, too!

Little memories

Mark looks like me.

I teach the Sunbeams (ages 3-4) at church and I love them. I have been thinking about my memories of my Sunbeam year. I have observed that young children can be very perceptive of social concepts. Childhood is not always carefree.

For instance, I remember my mother taking me to preschool. I have always been frightened of everything, especially change. I remember laughing hysterically as I climbed a small playscape as my mother walked out of the room so it would seem like I didn’t notice that she was leaving. That was hard to do.

During that same preschool experience, I observed that the teacher’s helpers always held the social, pretty girls on their laps during singing time. I was not one of these girls. One day, there was a helper who held me on her lap and gave me a small, opened package of lifesavers when she had to leave. I followed her on the other side of the fence as she walked away on the sidewalk, wishing she wouldn’t leave me. I felt so much gratitude and love for that teenage girl!

I remember sitting in my Sunbeam class and the teacher held a picture of Jesus Christ and asked the class who it was. I said it was Heavenly Father. I felt so embarrassed because that wasn’t the right answer.

This year as I have taught Sunbeams, I have tried to remember that children are so very precious and although they can’t always verbalize why they are acting upset, their feelings are real and deep. I have loved their drawings, their hugs and even kisses on the cheek when they come to Primary. I watch them enter Primary and they are hoping to be noticed.

I once heard it said that a child needs to see your face light up when you see them. I think it’s true for the very young, especially as they make the big steps into Primary and school.

Transparency

Our lifestyle keeps me honest. My children and I are are together most of the time and I know them and they know me. They went with me last week to deliver cookies to the women I should have visited with a spiritual message from church. I’m a terrible visiting teacher. And unfortunately, my kids know it.

The boys and I gathered happily in the van after dark with cookies wrapped in bows. Mark said he thought it felt like Thanksgiving. I think he meant Christmas. We grew more cheery with the anticipation of leaving cookies with someone. One boy asked if we could just leave them on the door and run. As tempting as this was to me (the absent visiting teacher), I said we needed to visit.

Our first stop was a dark house. I pulled out my flashlight and we walked to the door. Hmmm… no curtains in the windows… no furniture in the house… I had no idea this woman had moved. We walked away disappointed and I felt true shame.

The next house was also dark, but I knew this woman had not moved. She was probably out of town (as she often is).

No cookies were delivered that night and our spirits were low. We drove through the darkness towards Paige’s ballet studio and I told them the importance of being a visiting teacher or a home teacher and that I needed to be better. I told them about being a Relief Society president and trying to find women who had stopped coming to church. This is a hard job, so it’s up to the visiting teachers to help watch for and care for the women of the church.

Daniel began talking about preparing for a mission. I asked him what he thought he needed to do to prepare. He listed several things like scripture study, exercise, becoming an Eagle Scout, and learning about priesthood responsibilities. He expressed a  desire to be better at studying the scriptures, beyond  just reading them. He’s in the middle of trying to read the Old Testament cover to cover. I shared what I am trying to do to make my own scripture study better. I knew this conversation was important and it probably wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t taken my sons visiting teaching with me.

This morning, I found my son with notebook in hand, studying the Book of Mormon intently.

I need to make some visiting teaching appointments… today.

Summer Holds On

Just look at those long legs! Summer seems to make them grow.

We have 350 days of sun each year. I think of summer like I used to think of winter in Utah. It’s 5 months of having to stay inside. The mornings feel a little cooler, so this gives me hope that we’ll be down in the 80’s soon.

Last night I sat outside and looked at stars. We have a long covered patio and a view to the south. I looked at Sagittarius and Scorpio. Antares is fascinating for me with its changing color and brilliance.

I sent Paige to Youth Conference all weekend. I sent Richard on a temple trip by himself on Saturday since we had no babysitter. I cleaned the cars and became drenched in sweat and went shopping for Legos to pass the time with the boys.

Richard gave a talk at the temple at the Stake Temple Day chapel session. He talked about the Ross and Spencer ancestors who attended the temple in Nauvoo during those last days the Mormons were in Nauvoo. He talked about temple blessings extending through generations. These were sweet and humbling thoughts.

I decided that I’m going to keep looking at the stars each night and enjoy that cooling September air. It will give me hope for some milder Autumn days ahead.